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Show Sunday. November dentist evels his Cosmic S eedimig, ByPKIIIP J. KILTS The WuhhftM Pwt WASHINGTON Bit molecules from the frozen cores o? comets, or from the wisps of dust between stars, e) 1KB, - could have been the seeds for the first life on Earth, according to recent speculations by scientists studying the chemical evolution in space and on Earth. The scientists, including both chemists and astronomers, are seeking to explain and evaluate the curious fact that highly complex organic molecules the precursors of life are apparently present in meteorites, comets, and in interstellar dust. - - There are currently far more theories than there is agreement. At the fifth annual conference on the chemical evolution of life, held recently at the University of Maryland, noted astronomer Fed Hoyle presented, through a colleague, a paper suggesting that life itself in the form of bacteria, and not just precursor chemicals, is scattered everywhere in the universe. Equally famous astronomer Fred Whipple, Hi persoa. dechrtd the whole idea of life from space "utter nonsense." Among the most interesting of the laboratory work presented was from Mayo Greenberg of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Greenberg built a small system to mimic the grains of interstellar dust and their cold environment. The particles, averaging about a 50,000th of an inch across, exist in the clouds that give galaxies and nebula their foggy appearance. They are believed to have rocky silicate cores with some carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen scattered on the surface. Greenberg cooled a one-inc- h chamber to within 10 degrees of absolute zero. the temperature at which even the wobbling of atoms stops and injected into the chamber a combination of chemicals, in the form of a gas, supposedly identical to that on the grains in space. And be inserted a tiny glass rod, to mimic the silicate core of a space particle. He found that the chemicals clung to this "cold finger." as be called the glass rod. And since the grains in space receive occasional blips of light radiatiotkcom-in- g from stars. Greenberg slowly bathed the "cold finger" and its accumulated chemicals with ultraviolet radation. Each hour of radiation in the lab gave the equivalent of what a grain in space would receive in a thousand yean, a brief time on cosmic scale. . I960. THE HERALD, Prove Utah-P- age 15 Life Theory chemicals built ud to more romDlex falaxv. This hanoens hundred molecules were able to form on ones. As the process went on. through million years as the Earth makes its organic in Earth the relatively short time repeated cycles of reacting then cool- regular orbit through the Milky Way between the formation of Earth 4 5 bilit does as in interstellar grains Thus, at regular in ten all as the Earth lion years ing, ago and the appearance of over 50.000 or 100.000 years, large com- was forming, the molecular seeds life about S I billion years ago. plex organic molecules evolved. could have been deposited in fairly Greenberg thinks, though the chemical large numbers upon it. Ponnamperuma said he now believes analysis is not complete, that he will These scenarios are only speculation in what be rails "instant life" that find polypeptide chains the chemical laid on top of Greenberg s work, and the chains of molecules for necessary step just before the emergence of life. still are rated as less likely than the life could form very quickly once water was vented from the interior of the The link between this material and theory that the complex organic molecules needed for life were formed Earth at some early date in its life on Earth could come two ways. history. on Earth. The notion presented at the conference First, since comets are made by One with this theory, that is judged to be least likely among simply piling together millions of these however,problem is that recent discoveries all the theories is Hoyle's idea, which interstellar grains, some comet passhave pushed the beginning of he calls "panspermia." He believes ing close to the Earth may have life farther and apparent farther back, closer that frozen bacteria inhabit the ina amount of these deposited large and closer to the time the Earth was teriors of the interstellar dust grains, highly complex organic molecules, formed, leaving very little time for and on the insides of comets are teemtogether with some of the frozen water molecules to have evolved on ing in the warmth and melted ice that molecules that make up the grains and complex the planet. might be caused by radioactivity from the comet, on the barren, dry Earth as However, even though the seeding elements in the comet walls. it possibly existed 4 billion years ago. solve this problem, said If Hoyle's theory is true, the bacteria theory Alternatively, the interstellar grains Cyril might conference host would have to be formed and survive Ponnamperuma. could have seeded the Earth as the and researcher on the origin of life, the under extraordinary conditions as the planet passed through the thick bands other theory remains the simplest and comets and dust went about their of them in the dusty spiral arms of our most direct, and is possible that the big seeding of the universe. tv-pr- - Remarkably, Greenberg found that even though the atoms were all but frozen into immobility, the small amount of radiation was significant to set off occasional tiny bursts of chemical reaction. The reactions caused a rise of five or 10 degrees Kelvin (a scale on which zero is 523 Fahrenheit), and sometimes even little flashes of light. The result was that the simple -- seevers SJoirmy Saturn xt?ed Spot' PASADENA, Calif. (UPI) -V1 discovered a Jupiter-styl- e "red spot" on unexpectedly stormy Saturn and went hunting Saturday for unknown moonlets of the ringed planet. The cameras of the spacecraft, which is closing fast on Satum, were programmed to search the dark area outside the rings for satellites too small to be seen from Earth. Voyager was looking for any satellites that might exist outside Saturn's E ring, a loosely knit band of debris about 1,100 miles thick that is the outermost of the known rings, said project scientist Edward Stone. The spacecraft was almost 948 mil oyager lion miles from Earth and less than 4.5 million miles from Saturn, speeding as early as August, he said. The red spot shows toward its closest approach next clearly in one photo. Wednesday, 77,174 miles. The fact that the red color comes Television pictures beamed back to from computer enhancement "doesn't the Jet Propulsion laboratory Friday change it," Smith said, "it is orangeish revealed the presence of a stormy gas- or red in color." eous atmosphere. The photos and other scientific data They provided a closer look confirmalso showed more puzzling concentric ing earlier indications that Saturn also features in the series of debris-strew- n has a "red spot," like the famous rings around Saturn, the planet's best feature on Jupiter, but smaller, said known feature. Dr. Bradford Smith, leader of the photo Smith said the spacecraft is returnanalysts. ing information challenging the long-hel- d It has apparently existed for some theories that Saturn's rings, time in Saturn's southern hemisphere, believed to be particles of ice and other and first appeared in Voyager's photos matter, were perturbed by the color-enhance- d - Boom Despite Rising Prices - credit cards and resumed their another sign the recession is over, although trends on the unemployment and inflation fronts remain grim. The Federal Reserve Board the nation's central bank said Friday that for the second month in a row, consumers borrowed more money than they repaid, indicating the public is slowly old borrowing habits regaining confidence economy. , Two government in reports the is- sued the same day snow that despite the economy's slow recovery, inflation and unemployment resumed their upward spiral in October following dips in both categories in September. The Labor Department said unemployment rose 0.1 percent to 7.6 percent in October and wholesale prices of consumer goods rose 0.8 percent last month. Neither figure surprised government' and private analysts, who noted the jobless rate typically rises at the beginning of a recovery period when more people begin looking for work. And, as many experts had ex- food prices and Gicted, rising price tags on new 1981 model cars boosted overall wholesale prices 0.8 percent in October following a 0.2 percent decline in September. If producer prices continue to increase at their October rate for 12 months, prices would jump 12.6 percent over the year. The producer price index now stands at 252.2, meaning those goods that cost $100 to produce in 1967 now cost 8252.20. the major factor Auto prices rose in the October increase 3.4 percent last month, following a 4.2 percent drop in September. Prices for consumer foods also moved up 0.5 percent over the - LARAMIE, Wyo. (UPI) Wyoming's coal, now bumed in power plants around the country, could one day be burned in the family automobile under month, after edging down 0.2 percent in September. They mainly reflected a large increase in sugar prices. Lawrence Chimerine, chief economist for Chase Econometrics, a private forecasting firm in Pa., said the report indicates "there is still a lot of inflation out there, concentrated in the food sector. That's bad news for consumers because it shoots any discretionary spending." Although the 7.8 percent unemployment level in October was not much different than in the last two months, it represented a major shift in the employed popBala-Cynwy- d, ulation. The unemployment level for adult men dropped to 6.4 percent in October the first time since April that it has been outside the narrow range of 6.6 percent to 6.7 percent. The favorable decline reflects ' moderate improvements in the construction and durable goods both manufacturing Industries traditionally fields. Adult women, however, were not so lucky. Their unemploy- ment level jumped from 6.1 percent in September to 6.8 percent in October following two months - pedoes. Capable of diving to the ocean floor and equipped by nature with acute hearing, the whales may be the fastest and cheapest way to recover torpedoes tested in the Hood Canal near the Trident submarine base, spokesman says. "The purpose of the research is to investigate the feasibility of using beluga whales to mark or attach recovery lines to practice torpedoes," "The torpedoes are equipped with a special acoustic beacon which allows the whale to use its hearing to find the torpedoe." v . j Call For Quotes sol- vents. The work has been expanded recently to determine why some coal from the Powder River Basin in northeast Wyoming is more readily converted to liquid than other coals. The research shows 50 million tons a year of dry Powder River Basin coal can be converted in Wyoming to 120,000 barrels of high octane gasoline a day, 80,000 barrels of kerosene a day, 170,000 barrels of premium fuel oil a day and 350 million standard cubic feet of natural gas a day. "If we had direct coal liquefaction plants in Wyoming, it would be helpful in reducing transportation problems," 30,000-90,00- The result was a 11.45 billion increase in outstanding consumer installment credit, following a marginal' $15 million increase in August and declines in the four Total outprevious months. standing consumer debt increased 0.3 percent in September GCXDCOiNS The worlds best way to own gold. et 226-725- 1 Gontva Stat Bank Bldg. Suit 01, 140 W. 800 North Oram, Utah B4057 Open 9 a.m.-- S p.m. Monday thru Friday Herald Want Ads Bring Keogh and IRS Plans For Bullion Results This is custom decorating the JCPenney way. 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The university is conducting "frontier" research into liquefaction, turning coal into liquid petroleum substitutes, amid prospects that the state will be the center of a major conversion industry in 5 years. The work is funded with a $530,000 contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, a $160,000 contract with the Electric Power Research Institute and a $5,000 grant from Amax Corp. in Gillette. "This research is not in the backwater," program head Howard F. Silver said. A major problem, however, is finding Silver, a chemical engineering professor, said in remarks released Friday. enough water for the process. Figures "Because of our contacts with EPRI, published by Energy Transportation it's right at the frontier, if not a little Systems Inc., a coal slurry pipeline 0 acre-fe' company, indicate ahead of it." of water a year would be required In current research, coal is dissolved d solvent at high for a direct coal liquefaction project, in a temperatures and pressures. The ma- Silver said. ETSI also estimated water recharge jor emphasis is on determining the best physical and chemical properties of the to the area's underground Madison Formation runs from 75,000 to 150,000 solvent. a year, he said, so more One of the most important findings is acre-fewater would be necessary. 10-1- Tuesday. coal-derive- d, liquids make the best asphalt-lik- e receive from the sun. Stone said today's program also involved looking for a cloud of material believed to exist in association with the large moon Titan and also "for anything else that might be there." Voyager 1 will examine the satellite Titan at a distance of 2,500 miles next Utah Gold male-dominat- color portraits V ;:!!" i jin's:! Jtf tz0 for JU ony 0192P. ) to $304.7 billion. Whales to Help Navy To Retrieve Torpedoes The Navy BANGOR, Wash. 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The haze is described as a photochemical effect created by sunlight on the methane molecules extending far above the cloud tops. Like Jupiter, which Voyager 1 explored last year, Saturn is a huge, Captured in July 1977, the two whales, 5 and 7 years old aid 10 and 11 feet long, will undergo training for several more months. Beluga whales, which normally live in cold Arctic waters were chosen for the project because of their ability to withstand deep dives. Navy officials have measured dives of up to 2,100 feet during the project. "As part of their daily routine, the whales are trained to follow boats to various work areas," Hammes said. "They are periodically rewarded with dead fish, such as small mackerel and squid, for performing the behavior correctly." three5x7's two8x10's sixteen wallets Deposit $2.95 which entitles you to a beautiful 5x7 color portrait At Pixy you can still purchase portraits individually: each 5x7 or set of 4 wallets is $2.95, each 8x10 is $5.90. 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